Down in scenic Auckland, New Zealand, tucked in a small basement studio, musician Leonard Charles & his friends paid tribute to J Dilla’s ’06 „Donuts“ release by re-recording the entire 31-track album on live instruments. Charles gives the tracks a modern funk reinterpretation on live bass, drums, clavinet, Rhodes & synths – sans any sampling of the original source or sourced material. Featuring vocals by Anji Toy, Adi Dick, Ruby Walsh and Georgia Anne Muldrow on the emotional tribute „Airworks“.

„Basement Donuts“ is available for digital download and as limited-edition tape on Bandcamp.

London based duo Bardo Land dropped their new EP, which is the first release on the Jon Kennedy Federation record label. It’s a spiritual journey navigating through different genres. „Their music is an invite for the mind to transcend its state opening to the travel through the various realms of the soul.“

Although written for sampling, the pieces included on the “Wingbeats” EP stand on their own as individual compositions, striking elements coming to the fore in each one. And each source track tells a story: of birds fluttering in to feed on crumbs in a rural British garden, or flocking in a hedge in the snow in the French Alps; of an imaginary string orchestra; of a suspenseful, early-hours piano jam; of a spot of instrument shopping in Istanbul while on tour; of a sleepy village engulfed by an exhilarating early-morning dawn chorus, rounded off with church bells.

First Word Records present ‘OnePointOne’ from Myele Manzanza, recorded live at the legendary Blue Whale in Los Angeles. The son of a Congolese master percussionist, New Zealand born Myele first gained international attention as one third of NZ soul act, Electric Wire Hustle. After six years of performing, recording and touring with the band that he formed, he left in 2013 in order to release his solo debut ‘One’(BBE).

The album features the stellar talents of pianist/programmer Mark de Clive-Lowe, and the Quartetto Fantastico string quartet led by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (Suite For Ma Dukes), virtuoso bassist Ben Shepherd and guest vocalists Nia Andrews and Charlie K. As well as live takes on some of the material from his debut album, there are covers of Theo Parrish, Jill Scott and the late, great Bobby Hutcherson, capturing an intimate performance from a fearless artist at the hub of the resurgent West Coast Jazz scene.

German label Heart Working Class presents an album of German and Austrian beat makers reimagining Paternoster’s incredible psych-rock opus. Berlin-based label owner, journalist and all-around music enthusiast Stephan Szillus, has just issued a remix album of the favorite 70s, underground Austrian album, featuring some of Austria and Germany’s underground beat-making heroes.

“In 2015 I embarked on a journey to find the remaining members of the short-lived Vienna underground band Paternoster, because my friend Eothen Alapatt of Now-Again Records wanted to re-issue their first and only record, one of Euro prog rock’s holy grails. I met Franz Wippel, the band’s mastermind and songwriter, and Paternoster was re-released as part of the Now-Again Reserve subscription service in April 2016. Around the same time I sent the master files to a few of my beatmaking friends from Germany and Austria, resulting in this collection of remixes and versions. From underground trap to throwback boom-bap and afro house — Paternoster still sounds very much alive, even 44 years after its release.”

Lee Fields released his new album “Special Night” on Big Crown Records. The album was produced by Leon Michels and Thomas Brenneck, and brilliantly performed by the Expressions. „Special Night“ was written, recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely to tape in three weeks at the legendary Diamond Mine Studios in Queens, NY. It is also the first record in the Expressions catalogue in which every song was written jointly by Lee Fields and The Expressions.

“When I record, I make every song like I actually mean it. I mean every word I say. On Special Night I’m talking to my lady — literally, expressing the way I feel. You can tell if a song is real or not, and every moment I’m recording, those moments are real, this is a record about what people do in real life”. – Lee Fields

Listen to the entire album below. Out November 4th, on Big Crown Records, order online at HHV or direct.